Silk Road forums

Support => Feature requests => Topic started by: chiefrogan on February 02, 2012, 02:12 am

Title: Reputation system
Post by: chiefrogan on February 02, 2012, 02:12 am
we all know post counts don't count and someone brought up the good point that thumbs up could be manipulated.

but maybe something that only mods could add or minus to someone's rep?

some people in the forums are mistaking 300 posts (10 in last 30 days) as cred and will trust them. we must fight the scammer's more!!
Title: Re: Reputation system
Post by: Horizons on February 02, 2012, 02:21 am
Hello again. :)

I agree that this is a legitimate problem you're trying to address. But I think that the way to fix this isn't by implementing a "better" automatic reputation system, but by instructing new users to actually get a feel for a vendor's reputation before engaging in business with them. /uninformed consumers will always fall for scammers in any market, and it's impossible to hold everyone's hand. No matter how well-thought the system, there will always be loopholes and social engineering. Stimulating skepticism and individual research is the best action we can take, in my opinion. And I am very much against the false sense of security that highly visible reputation stats might give people.
Title: Re: Reputation system
Post by: FiveSeven on February 02, 2012, 02:43 am
That's a pretty cool idea, but I imagine the forum would need more mods if this was the case. Seems like it would be a lot of work.

@Horizons I agree there needs to be more awareness among new buyers. If someone comes in and gets into buying without at least reading the wiki/browsing seller reviews then I don't have a lot of sympathy for them if they run into trouble, personally... however, it does damage the community as a whole. Scam accusations from misinformed buyers just wastes vender time and creates a rift in the community.

Here's my idea, On bluelight, if you have under 50 posts then at the top of the forum is a big bold paragraph with information. I just pasted it in because I cbf taking a screenshot;
Quote
Support links:        Other links of interest:
Bluelight Support FAQ   About Bluelight
The Greenlighter's Guide to Bluelight   Bluelight User Agreement (BLUA)
Staff Contact List   Bluelighting Tips

This notice will be removed when you reach Bluelighter status (50 posts)
Also, once you reach Bluelighter status, you will be able to post in the Lounge.

The fact is, while there is tons of great information on the forums, it's a little unorganized. I think this would be a good solution to increase safety/efficency of the network without any real downsides.
Title: Re: Reputation system
Post by: nexus68 on February 02, 2012, 02:47 am
People just need to keep an eye out and stay vigilant. I think any kind of reputation system will be inherently flawed and prone to manipulation. Just think about all the very reputable vendors with hundreds of successful transactions who suddenly became scammers overnight. See my point?

@FiveSeven, good points about lots of information being in the forums but disorganized. I think what we need is a newbie forum where all this information can be organized. It would also be a perfect place for new users to ask questions, which would vastly cleanup the rest of the forum. Another thought would be that new users are only allowed to post outside of the newbie board as long as they have a certain number of posts, which again would further cleanup the posts as well as serve as a deterrent to trolls.
Title: Re: Reputation system
Post by: tordemon on February 02, 2012, 03:20 am
I think this thread has gone in a great direction. I would recommend that we in some way make sure that newbies understand more of the dangers. Their danger endangers the community as a whole, and so we should try to make sure they understand how to protect themselves. I know SR has done that on the main site, but perhaps the first time you log in it should make you read the user's guide and click "I read and understand the user's guide" before entering the site. Not something terribly long, but at least long enough to tell them to have good etiquette and how to avoid scams. Basically, I think we can combine all of the ideas here together to make it more effective without a rigid reputation system in place.
Title: Re: Reputation system
Post by: Horizons on February 02, 2012, 11:42 am
FiveSeven, that's a great idea! It addresses the issue in a simple, elegant way without causing the problems I mentioned. And it might have the bonus side-effect of lowering the number of threads asking the same basic questions, like "how do I get bitcoins?". :)
Title: Re: Reputation system
Post by: Angelology on February 05, 2012, 10:06 pm
we all know post counts don't count and someone brought up the good point that thumbs up could be manipulated.

but maybe something that only mods could add or minus to someone's rep?

some people in the forums are mistaking 300 posts (10 in last 30 days) as cred and will trust them. we must fight the scammer's more!!
Who to say the scammer wont just abuse the rep system by giving himself +1 on multiple accounts? And If you say they have to have a certain post count, once again, the scammer could just spam post.

Also, people would give +1 in return for another +1. The best way to go is to just not make transactions on the forums.